Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-12-16
HARPER'S BIG DEAL.
AN INTERESTING HISTORY OF HIS SPBCU
LATIONS IN WHEAT
How Hs Began in the Chicago Aarkst-S20O, 900 8
the First Brssk-The Great Syndicate
Speeulanon-Ths Final COL
lapse Last Year.

| CHICAGO, December ia local paper
publishes history of Harper's deals on the
Chicago Board of Trade, and gives facts
hitherto unpublished.
The bank wrecker's first deal of any con
sequence on the Chicago Board was in 1880
when he made dash at pork through the
firm of Howard, Eckert x Co., afterward
Wiltshire, Eckert * Co. On this occasion
he 'scooped" in large pot of money,
probably $20O, 000 He was then thirty-twc
years old. In the fall Of lSsl he began
buying wheat through W. F.. McHenry &
Co. He bought steadily from 81 TO g.
cents, and when the contracts mstured or
May he took the wheat, between 1000,
600 and 1900, 600 bushels, and paid for it,
At that time he had a handsome profit ir
the deal, as the price on May was 81. .02G
1.O3.
In the following June he turned up n
the representative OF a Cincinnati sgndi
cate, composed of himself, George vii
shire, president Of the Third National
Bank: Joe" W. Wiltshire, Chatield &
Woods, paper manufacturers, and Truman
B. Handy. Each of these parties, Chat
field d Woods being considered one, had &
fifth interest in the syndicate. They bull
great corner on Harper's cash wheat
and the deal eliminated in the iamou,
August corner known as the Handy cor
ner." Wheat was advanced to Sl.3S
which was the bid price on the last day o
August. 1852. The syndicate
CLEARED Up s., ,OOO,O 600
Oh the deal. Harper admitted that on his
earlier deal and on its continuation as {
syndicate deal he had cleared $50 600 net
The price of wheat broke 10 $l.2O wher
the syndicate let 20, but began to advanc,
Immediately. At $l.3j Harper took tht
bear side in order to make my winning
an even $500, 0O0," as he put it.
Handy had quarrelled with Harper IL
settling up their trade and would have
nothing TO do with him. The Others prob
ably went with Harper, though the fact
could never be proved. At any rate, Har
per ''ahorted" the marked from ST. % tC
T.io his line aggreSating about 1000, ,OU
baSnels He had put mp something like
$500, uOG in the shape Of margins, and Nc
Henry \ Preston, who had in the mean
time consolidated in one firm, had advanC'
cd out OF their own funds about 500, 600
They had paid --irpcr and his associates
yearly 100000 in profits n month pre-
viOus and had unlimited confidence ii
theIn. When the market reached Sl.4,
Preston & McHenry began to grow suspi
Cious and they made peremtCry demand
for additional margins.
Harper, who had spent most Of The
spring, sum mcr and fall in Chicago person
ally
DIRECTING HIS DEALS,
promised faithfully to have the moDey hcre
! in two or three days The Monday morn.
ing after the Garfield funeral wheat open
ed at 81. .4lal ~ and, 10 money having ar
rived, Preston IL Mclienry began buying
! in the 6, 600 HOn bushels Of short wheat fol
Harper'S accaunt. The price climbed tc
$l.i-l, ct which po;ut came the crash
Preston q McHenry went TO the wall, and
Harper sobbingly informed them that he
WA heartbroken ovcr h:I inability to dc
anything for them, though contessedly
worth more tEan $1,000, 900 at the time,
and having $500, 600 in profits on pre-
viOus deal left untouched. Preston died
| in Two or three years Of broken heart,
! having lost bis whole fortune on account Of
IIarper's luplicity, and Mclienry was left
$500, 600 or $500, 600 worse OIL than moth
| ing.
There is a feature OF the last summer +
deal that has never been published, and
that is the attempt made by Harper tC
quit the deal IN June, get n big profit and
leave Wiltshire, Eckert & Co., C. j. Ker
shaw & Co., and Rosenteld x Co.
To HOLD THE BAG.
His deal mad two arms. He operated one
through Hoyt and the other through Will
shire. lToyt traded through Irwin, Green
* Co. and G.. J. Kcrshaw Il Co, and vii
shire through kershaw and Rosenfeld.
He bad about 81 coo, 900 profit on tho
Hoyt end of the deal Cershaw was press
ing Kim for margins, and he threatened 10
transfer his trade through Kershaw 10 an
other house. One day, about ten days be
fore the crash, Kersbaw received orders tC
transfer his trades, about 10, OO0, 900 bush
els in all, TO Rosenfeld & Co., clear up the
deal and turn the profits over to lioyt
VERY well " said Kershaw, deposit &c
my credit l,O0O,GO TO secure me on the
trades ! gave for account OF Wiltshire &
Hoyt on the floor, and will turn over the
trades This curt answer blocked lIar'
per's game, and to Kershaw'5 stand The
trade may congratulate itself Oh being Just
81. .OGO. 900 better off THAI it would have
been if he had followed instructions. II
was Harper's purpose to pull out the Sl,'
OOO, 600 through Hoyt and leave everything
else in the hole, if it should develop that
that the deal could not be carried through